Werner A. Baum was born in Germany on April 10, 1923 and became a naturalized citizen in 1934. Baum was the seventh president of the University of Rhode Island, serving from July 5, 1968 to August 14, 1973. He earned all of his academic degrees from the University of Chicago; a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics in 1943, a Master of Science degree in Meteorology in 1944, and a doctorate in Meteorology in 1948.
Baum came to the presidency of the University of Rhode Island after a distinguished career in government and academic service. From 1947 to 1949 he was an Assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Maryland. In 1949 he began a fourteen year sojourn at Florida State University with an appointment as an Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Meteorology. He remained as department chair until 1958 when he was appointed Dean of the Graduate School and Director of Research. In 1960 he was named Florida State's Dean of the Faculties.
Three years later Baum left Florida State University to assume the position of Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties at the University of Miami, Florida. From there he went to New York University as Vice-President for Scientific Affairs and Professor of Meteorology. After two years in New York, Baum was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as the Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Science Services Administration. He assumed the presidency of the University of Rhode Island on July 5, 1968, succeeding Acting President F. Don James who had left to become president of Southern Connecticut State College.
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Records of the President, Werner A. Baum, Rec. Gr. 1.11, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
The records cover all aspects of the organization, administration and operation of the University, the URI Faculty Senate established in 1960, various all-university committees established by the president's office, the files of the University's legal counsel during Baum's tenure, typed and handwritten manuscripts of speeches and addresses delivered by Baum to various audiences during his presidency and carbon and photographic copies of outgoing letters written by President Baum between 1968 and 1973.
Baum came to the presidency of the University of Rhode Island after a distinguished career in government and academic service. From 1947 to 1949 he was an Assistant Professor and Chairman of the Department of Meteorology. He remained as department chair until 1958 when he was appointed Dean of the Graduate School and Director of Research. In 1960 he was named Florida State's Dean of the Faculties.
Three years later Baum left Florida State University to assume the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties at the University of Miami, Florida. From there he went to New York University as Vice President for Scientific Affairs and Professor of Meteorology. After two years in New York, Baum was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as the Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Science Services Administration. He assumed the presidency of the University of Rhode Island on July 5, 1968, succeeding Acting President F. Don James who had left to become president of Southern Connecticut State College.
Baum's five year tenure at the University of Rhode Island was marked by a great deal of tumult and controversy, which in many instances was not of his own doing. Among the problems which he faced were a nearly million dollar deficit inherited from his predecessors, three governing boards in five years, a University-wide student strike in the spring of 1970, an African-American student take-over of the Administration building in the spring of 1971, a legislature which frequently fancied itself as a sort of collective college administrator, students who were demanding more privileges and parents who did not want them to have them, and a faculty that organized for collective bargaining. By the time of his departure in 1973, URI students were able to drink on campus in a student pub, were able to live in coed dormitories, and were able to come and go when and as they pleased. With the lowering of the age of majority to eighteen in 1971, the last vestiges of in loco parentis disappeared.
Baum submitted his resignation as president of the University of Rhode Island in the spring of 1973 to accept the chancellorship at the University of Wisconsin's Milwaukee campus. His last day at the University of Rhode Island was August 14, 1973.
The collection is arranged in six series as follows:
The records were transferred from the President's Office on 1979 May 21.
This subject series consists of materials relating to the administration of the University of Rhode Island during the presidency of Werner A. Baum. The bulk of this series contains correspondence, memos and reports to and from Baum regarding the administration of the University, its growth and development and its sometimes stormy relationship to the community at large. Also represented are the more mundane matters of university administration such as arranging overnight accommodations for university guests and choosing the menu for dinner for an all day meeting at the W. Alton Jones Campus.
Baum presided over the University of Rhode Island during a tumultuous period of both its and the nation's history. Student challenges to the University's in loco parentis role, which had been simmering throughout the sixties came to a full boil during Baum's presidency. A student pub on campus, the abolition of curfews for women, twenty-four hour visitation rights for students of the opposite sex, and co-ed dormitories all became a reality between 1968 and 1973. The passage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment lowering the age of majority to eighteen in 1971 effectively ended the last vestiges of in loco parentis. Materials relating to these issues and to the generally negative reactions their solutions evoked from the general public can be found in the folders labeled Housing, Drinking on Campus and Student Affairs.
Social issues were not all that concerned students and plagued the Baum administration. Students int he late sixties were becoming more politically aware and politically active, particularly in the areas of civil rights and the anti-Vietnam War issue. While the URI campus was not a hot bed of radicalism, there were student activists, particularly anti-war activists. The anti-war movement was galvanized by the American invasion of Cambodia and the killing by Ohio National Guardsmen of four Kent State University students during a protest rally on that campus four days later. A student strike was called on the URI campus and classes in effect ended two weeks early. Materials relating to this event, the administration's handling of it and the generally negative public reaction to it can be found in folders labeled Student Strike, Student Senate, Student Affairs and Faculty Senate.
Less than a year later another student protest ended on a far less harmonious note. On May 5, 1971, black students occupied the Administration Building demanding, among other things, recruitment of larger numbers of black students, faculty and administrators. With Baum's approval, a University vice-president called state and local police to the campus to remove the students from the building. During the course of that action, a number of student supporters outside the building were injured by police truncheons and mace. Materials concerning this incident can be found in folders labeled Black Student Takeover.
All was not crisis management during Baum's administration, however. The University continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace than had been the case in the heady days of the early sixties. A number of new programs were added, the Graduate Library School was accredited for the first time, and the Graduate School of Oceanography continued to develop into one of the finest such programs anywhere in the world. A radical new departure for URI in student advising took place with the establishment of University College in 1972. Baum at the time called University College the most significant achievement of his administration. Materials concerning these programs can be found in the appropriately labeled folders.
Also of interest are the American Association of University Professors and collective bargaining folders which detail the issues leading to faculty unionization in 1971. Faculty unionization was one of the leading factors contributing to Baum's decision to resign two years later.
In addition, the course entitled "History 103: Revolution in the Modern World", which Baum first cancelled and then reinstated during the 1970 Summer Session, raised the issue of academic freedom on campus. Baum's decision to reinstate it six days later led to a public perception of him as a waffling administrator who caved into pressure from faculty. The flow of correspondence, both internal and external, surrounding this issue can be found the in folders labeled "History 103: Revolution in the Modern World".
The series is arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically by date within folders.
The Faculty Senate Series consists of materials relating to the activities of the Faculty Senate of the University of Rhode Island and its interaction with the Baum administration. By 1968 the Senate was no longer the rather tentative body that had been created in 1960, but a formidable organization seeking to develop and extend its role into new areas of university governance.
The Faculty Senate minutes and correspondence between Senate leadership and President Baum shed light on a number of issues confronting the University, including the issue of academic freedom raised in stark terms by Baum's cancellation and reinstatement of a Summer Session history course in 1970, the student strike of 1970 and the allocation of limited budget resources. In addition, the files document the changing relationship between the faculty and the administration with the advent of collective bargaining and faculty unionization. Criteria for promotion and tenure now became a matter on contract language rather than one of negotiation between president and Faculty Senate.
Also contained in this series are the reports and minutes of such Faculty Senate committees as Curricular Affairs, Faculty Salary, the Ad Hoc Committee to Study ROTC, the Ad Hoc Committee on Campus Unrest and the University Governance Committee. These files document the faculty's specific concerns during a tumultuous period the University's history. Finally, the Faculty Senate bills indicate the immediate concerns and long-range goals of the University as perceived by the Faculty Senate.
This series does not represent the official records of the Faculty Senate, but more of a record of its interaction with a particular president within a given limited period of time. Therefore, they are far too truncated and incomplete to stand as the official records of the Faculty Senate. With the exception of Faculty Senate minutes, the official records of the Senate can be found in Record Group 113, Records of the Faculty Senate. The official minutes of the Senate can be found in Record Group 122, Records of the Faculty and Administrative Meetings.
The series has been arranged alphabetically by name of the item (e.g. Agenda, Bills) and chronologically by date within folders.
The Committee Series contains the records of the various all-university committees established by the president's office. They are not the official files of the respective committees, however, and represent in nearly every instance an incomplete record of the activities of the committee. Included are correspondence, memos and minutes of meetings.
Although largely eclipsed in the area of university governance by the establishment of the Faculty Senate in 1960, the all-university committees still played a prominent role in the life of the University. Particularly important in this regard are the files of the Deans' Council and the Board of Review. The Deans' Council met regularly and served as an advisory council to the president on major academic policy issues. Although eclipsed somewhat during Baum's administration by the President's Cabinet, the Deans' Council minutes and correspondence are significant in that they reveal the amount of input the various deans had on issues affecting their respective schools and colleges.
The Board of Review was the committee responsible for considering requests for sabbatical leave and, more importantly, making recommendations to the president on promotion and tenure cases. This committee was abolished with the implementation of collective bargaining for faculty, but their files provide insights into the criteria used to evaluate faculty for promotion and tenure before the era of collective bargaining.
Also of interest are the files of the Ad Hoc Committee on Controversial Persons. The creation of the former committee reflected the tenor of the times when administrators feared that the appearance on campus of controversial speakers or recruiters for controversial companies (e.g. Dow Chemical) could lead to violence. The files reveal how a coherent policy to deal with controversial persons evolved over time. The materials contained herein demonstrate the very real concern of all involved to keep tensions from boiling over into a potentially violent confrontation that would tear apart the fragile unity of the university community.
The series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the committee and chronologically by date within folders.
The Legal Counsel Series consists of files maintained by the president's legal advisor. Baum was the first president of the University to engage a full time legal counsel to assist the administration with the host of legal questions and issues with which it had to deal on a regular basis. Prior to Baum's administration, the University relied on the office of the State Attorney General for legal advice or hired an attorney on a limited basis to represent its interests or give advice on a specific issue.
Included are correspondence, memos, legal briefs, legal opinions, copies of transcripts and lawyers' notes relating to issues referred to the president. Particularly interesting are the materials relating to grievances filed by faculty in tenure and promotion cases. The materials give one a detailed look at the strategy employed by the administration in these cases and the changes in that strategy after the implementation of collective bargaining. Also of interest are the files relating to the University's legal rights and obligations vis a vis fraternities, files dealing with the negotiation of contracts obligating the University in any way, and materials relating to the efforts of the University of Rhode Island Foundation.
The series is arranged alphabetically by topic or issue and chronologically by date within folders.
The Speeches and Addresses Series contains typed and handwritten manuscripts of speeches given by Werner Baum as president of the University of Rhode Island. In a state the size of Rhode Island, the president of the state university is often called upon to speak to civil and cultural groups, as well as to deliver commencement addresses at local high schools and colleges.
Included in this series are speeches and addresses of that nature, as well as addresses to the faculty at convocations, speeches to the alumni, the annual state of the university address to the alumni and speeches to regional and national academic organizations. Particularly interesting are the alumni state of the university address in which Baum reviewed the activities of the University for the past year and outlined his hopes for its future. Also of note are two addresses to academic organizations in which Baum details his misgivings about the wisdom of the collective bargaining process for faculty. These addresses can be found in folders labeled "Collective Bargaining in Academia" and "Collective Bargaining Address".
This series is arranged alphabetically by the topic of the address or the name of the group or organization to whom Baum spoke.
The Chronological File consists of carbon and photo copies of letters written by President Baum between July, 1968 and August, 1973. Most are duplicates of letters found in the appropriate folders of the Subject Series.
The series is arranged chronologically by month and chronologically by date within folders.